


draft

by Fluffifullness



Series: Tumblr MakoHaru Festival [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Beaches, Established Relationship, Eyes, Fluff, Future Fic, M/M, Prompt Fic, Tumblr: makoharufestival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-14
Updated: 2014-01-14
Packaged: 2018-01-08 16:22:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1134851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluffifullness/pseuds/Fluffifullness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“The rain sounds nice,” Haru mumbles in quiet acquiescence. He draws his hand up close to his face and lets it rest there between them. “We should walk out in it now.”</p><p>Makoto almost wouldn’t mind, but he’s warm and comfortable where he is. He likes the way Haru’s hair has shifted across his forehead, the longer strands and the way they form a barely-there halo around Haru’s head. He likes the blue of Haru’s eyes, and he likes the sound of the rain. He even likes that Haru likes it – maybe because it’s how he knows that they’re both happy right where they are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	draft

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the "blue & green" challenge of the [makoharu festival on tumblr](http://makoharufestival.tumblr.com/). The post on tumblr is [here](http://makoharufestival.tumblr.com/post/73329852129/challenge-blue-green-user-fluffifullness).

Haru sighs irritably as he sags onto one of two beds in their shared hotel room. Makoto watches him with a faint smile, and Haru is very careful about not returning that gaze. He focuses instead on the view outside; the places actually on the beach were all a bit too far outside of their price range, but there’s still a hint of sand and water visible from their window here – even if it _is_ a limited view obscured by squat buildings and a tree.

“I’m sorry, Haru. If we could have found someplace just a little closer…”

“It’s raining,” says Haru, all but under his breath and with his bright blue eyes now trained on Makoto.

Makoto chuckles in spite of himself and Haru’s complaining frown. “Is that it? It should be done before we head out for dinner. We could go out for a walk after that, if you like.”

“I want to swim,” Haru responds almost immediately. He notices Makoto’s quiet look of disappointment and adds, “You have to come, too.”

“Sure.” His eyes ghost over Haru and the slight dip he forms on the mattress, sprawled with his lean muscles taut against the thin fabric of his shirt. He doesn’t realize until several moments have passed that Haru is still watching him right back – his blue eyes suddenly softer, lips twitching up into the subtlest of smiles. Chest rising and falling slowly.

His hand comes down on the open space beside him on the bed. Makoto’s eyes widen bewilderedly for a moment – they’ve never been alone quite like this, all by themselves in an entire town, an entire prefecture of strangers, and all their nights together at home haven’t promised this much freedom or privacy – but then he collects himself, understands and rises to his feet.

Crosses the short distance between his bed and Haru’s, eases into that empty space and rolls onto his side in front of Haru, facing him. The bed isn’t huge, but it’s just large enough that when Haru shifts backward a bit, they can both lie comfortably without feeling like they’re about to fall over the edge.

And Haru just keeps watching him, eyes piercing, hot-seeming until Makoto realizes that it’s his own cheeks warming up, turning red to complement the dull green of the comforter.

A moment passes before Makoto can’t take it anymore. “Say something,” he complains softly. “Haru…”

“The rain sounds nice,” Haru mumbles in quiet acquiescence. He draws his hand up close to his face and lets it rest there between them. “We should walk out in it now.”

Makoto almost wouldn’t mind, but he’s warm and comfortable where he is. He likes the way Haru’s hair has shifted across his forehead, the longer strands and the way they form a barely-there halo around Haru’s head. He likes the blue of Haru’s eyes, and he likes the sound of the rain. He even likes that Haru likes it – maybe because it’s how he knows that they’re both happy right where they are.

“I don’t feel like moving,” he says drowsily. “Can we wait?”

Haru narrows his eyes in something like a pout, but it doesn’t last. There’s a spark of something in his expression, and then he moves closer to Makoto, surprises him by putting his hands in his hair and angling in for a kiss.

“You always close your eyes,” he notices.

Makoto opens them. “Aren’t you supposed to?”

Haru considers this for a moment. “Mm. Maybe.”

“What?”

“Still,” Haru decides, so it’s not quite like he’s actually answering Makoto’s question, “I can’t see them.”

“You can see them the rest of the time,” Makoto says, his voice hitting an uncomfortably high note as his cheeks flush again. His chest feels like it’s suddenly vibrating, blood buzzing hot and embarrassed.

“I like them up close.”

Makoto thinks about responding properly, but when he tries to get the words out, all he manages is a shaky “Oh, Haru!” – and that’s it; he buries his face in his hands and refuses to look up again until Haru sits up, sighs and cards a hand distractedly through Makoto’s hair. He expects him to give up pretty quickly, but after a while he’s still lying like he was, face hidden, knees drawn up. Haru’s fingers teasing his scalp; it feels really, really good.

When he finally peeks up at Haru through the space between two fingers, he’s greeted with a great picture of Haru in profile. He’s looking out at the water again, but the expression on his face isn’t so much longing as content.

 

**~*~**

 

The ocean here is a little different. Even up close, it’s harder to tell what color it really is – blue, green, maybe something that’s both or neither or something somewhere in the middle. Maybe it’s the differentness that makes it feel a lot less threatening – the absence of old memories, habitual fear founded on day after day of looking out at it and _feeling…_

“It really doesn’t bother you.”

Makoto glances at Haru in surprise. He can’t find the words he needs to reassure him, but there’s a spot in the back of his mind that’s telling him he doesn’t need to – that Haru already knows.

“I – I told you,” he manages at last, and with a little more confidence: “I guess I’ve graduated from more than just high school, huh?”

He digs his toes into the wet sand by the water’s edge and smiles a little. It hasn’t sunk in even now – none of it, not graduating from Iwatobi High, not leaving Rei and Nagisa to lead the swim team and _definitely_ not his and Haru’s shared plans to attend university together. Not even this trip – a two-week stay in Okinawa – and that in spite of the fact that it was mainly him and Haru who worked to earn the money for it in the first place. He’s still reeling from the fact that both their parents were willing to let them go so far all on their own.

(They’d wanted Rei and Nagisa along, as well, but the two had been more than obvious about wanting their friends to “celebrate like a proper couple” – Nagisa’s words or Rei’s, Makoto can’t remember.)

“Makoto?”

Makoto gives a little start and looks back up and into Haru’s eyes. There’s a question shining in them, but it’s unrushed. He smiles.

“Yeah?”

Haru takes a moment to respond. “…I’m heading out,” he says with a quick gesture in the direction of the open water. “I’ll come back soon, so don’t go anywhere.”

“I’ll be waiting here.” This time he tilts his head a little as he smiles. He can feel a laugh bubbling up in his chest, and before he knows it Haru is looking at him with his cheeks stained pink, eyes wide, lips parted.

Before Makoto can say or think anything about it, Haru’s leaned in to steal a kiss – so brief it could have been imagined, surreptitious with darting eyes, a quick look around at the uncrowded beach, and then he’s off running.

He leaves Makoto a mess in his wake; his lips tingle like they’re expecting more, another touch, warmth, so he holds the bridge of his pointer finger to them and smiles more through his own blush.

 

**~*~**

 

Of course, Haru is never as brief as he says he’ll be – not when it comes to swimming, anyway. “Soon” for him is a while for Makoto, but that’s not a problem, after all. Makoto can’t quite deny the little shocks of anxiety that course sporadically through him whenever Haru dives and stays under for a long time – it’s not that he genuinely worries for Haru out in an ocean as still as this, but that little vein of consciousness probably won’t ever disappear entirely – and yet he’s pretty relaxed despite that. He can see Haru looking back at him periodically, maybe checking to see that he’s still there. The sun is setting; the beach is dyed in reds and oranges all layered on top of that soothing blue and green.

The sand and water combine to make a sort of mirror that tosses bright sun straight up and into Makoto’s unprotected eyes. He squints through it, but to little avail; he’s finally forced to lower his gaze from Haru to the shoreline on either side of him.

And that’s when he sees it, shining like someone’s set a little fire in the wet sand.

“Makoto?”

He gives a start and leans up with the thing clasped tightly in his hand; it should be completely hidden there.

“Haru,” he greets. “Done already?”

“You looked like you were going somewhere,” Haru sniffs, but after a moment he lowers his gaze and nods. “Yeah.”

Makoto laughs and moves suddenly closer to Haru – close enough that he can see the individual beads of water clinging to Haru’s messy hair, arms, legs, chest. There are still one or two lingering around his mouth, and, with a quick, mischievous smile, Makoto lowers his head to kiss them away.

“Revenge,” he says cheerily when Haru gives him a quiet look of amazement.

“It’s not a game,” Haru mutters under his breath.

“Sure, it’s serious,” Makoto answers, both teasing and placating at the same time. His gaze flits down to the thing hidden in his hand; Haru follows with his own eyes, bright and curious. And Makoto notices in that second of motionlessness that Haru’s hand is also closed around something, half-hidden behind his back and Haru shuffling his weight in unconscious agitation, flushed and breathless maybe not just because of his swim.

“Here,” Haru says suddenly, and with that he holds his open palm out for Makoto to see what he’s carried back with him.

“Beach glass?”

Haru nods. “It looks like you…”

“Me?” Makoto picks the piece up gingerly and turns it over in his free hand. “How so?”

Haru gives him a frustrated look. “Your eyes.”

“Oh!” He feels his heart turn over as yet another blush springs to his cheeks. “A-actually – Haru?”

“Hm?”

“Here,” Makoto all but whispers as he holds his open palm out to Haru. Too embarrassed not to follow Haru’s example exactly. He smiles, and for some reason Haru’s attention takes a long moment to shift down to the little object in his hand.

“ _Oh_ ,” he murmurs when he sees, his voice thick with feeling. He smiles, too, after a moment, and then they’re both laughing – Haru very discreetly, Makoto with his hand held to his mouth, shoulders shaking.

Haru picks his own piece of glass up between two fingers and smiles at it, at Makoto – still laughing, holding the green up to the light and peering through it at the ocean. It casts everything in a new light, dimmer and darker and easier on the eyes; it’s a little like being underwater. The piece is small, rounded at the edges, smooth all over and chipped in places.

Haru follows Makoto’s lead, and Makoto imagines what he must be seeing – everything painted a rich ocean blue.

**Author's Note:**

> Fair warning that this note is long but not terribly important!
> 
> I knew right away that I wanted to write a short beach fic kind of thing for the “blue & green” prompt, but one thing led to another and I had to do a bit of research to make it at least sort of accurate – for something coming from a person who’s never actually seen a beach in Japan, anyway. I searched for places that have a lot of beach glass (if you didn’t know, that’s glass from broken bottles etc. that has been worn smooth by waves and sand in the ocean). The [very first site I visited](http://www.odysseyseaglass.com/sea-glass-okinawa-japan-tucuchi-beach-torri-beach.html) specifically mentioned two beaches in Okinawa. So would it have been reasonable for the characters of _Free!_ to be vacationing that far south (especially when they already live by the ocean)?
> 
> The [_Free!_ Wiki page for the town of Iwatobi](http://free-anime.wikia.com/wiki/Iwatobi_Town) has a bit of trivia on it. It suggests that Iwami Chō in Tottori Prefecture may have been the real-life inspiration for Iwatobi. A quick Google Maps search gave the approximate travel time between those two places as at least four and a half hours. Of course, that’s if you go by plane (they’d be crossing open ocean either way).
> 
> That’s a lot of time and expense for high school students who can already visit the beach whenever they want to, which is why this wound up being a post-graduation celebratory trip for Makoto and Haruka. (It seems more justifiable if it's done in celebration of a big milestone like that.)
> 
> I apologize for any errors in fact or judgment! It wasn’t very thorough research at all, but I like to give credit to any sources that I do wind up using when I write. And I thought it might be interesting, anyway. ;)


End file.
